Here’s a new take on the buddy fugitive pic … one that might remind you of The Defiant Ones if The Defiant Ones were kinda lame and shitty actors pursued by people who aren’t nearly as threatening as they’d like to be. Still … fugitives, chase, defiance, how bad could it be, right?
Orpa (Orsila Murib) is a teenage native in Papua, New Guinea only now being introduced to the cavalcade of traditional tribal sexism. Orpa wants an education. And by that she means something that doesn’t resemble five people in a hut of various ages all learning how to say “Hello” in English. Mom ain’t a fan. Dad runs the show, head of household and head of tribe, and he ain’t a fan, either. So Orpa runs away, which amounts more to “wanders away” because the film isn’t well-acted, well-written, or well-directed.
Meanwhile, in another film, there’s an Indonesian guy collecting sounds for an album. Ryan (Michael Kho) thinks there’s money to be made from getting the local fauna fawning or whatever. His guides abuse him for a bit and then fall victim to a wild boar attack. Ryan flees and when the bodies of the guides are found, the tribe sends a team of heavy hitting trackers after him.
And in case you didn’t see this one coming, Orpa and Ryan meet up and start moving together in the jungle in an effort to find the city. She wants to get a proper education in Wamena; he just wants to get the Hell back to Jakarta. Ryan is a city slicker and has to be educated on literally everything by Orpa. It’s kind of embarrassing; he doesn’t even guess well.
And, of course, there are bruisers chasing after them, unintentionally comic bruisers, but bruisers all the same. So, hey, buddy pic! Buddy road pic at that! (Where the “road” is a jungle, of course … a
tame jungle where baby pigs roam free to be eaten at will, but still).
Orpa is a better in-theory pic than in-practice pic. We like Orpa. We like her spirit and her outlook. We root for her. We even like Ryan. Yeah, he’s a fish out of water, but he isn’t responsible for tribal deaths and he wants to do right by Orpa (even if he sucks at making right happen), so we want to like this picture. It’s less The Defiant Ones and more a non-comic version of Hunt for the Wilderpeople, but we are definitely on the side of the filmmaker.
The problem is the film just isn’t very good. As said above, the acting, script, and direction are all weak. I could see a passing version remade in a country that has a strong film program, but Papua New Guinea ain’t that country. Not yet, at least. Keep working on it, fellas. This isn’t a terrible watch, and it will be beloved by people with soft hearts and low standards, so perhaps I’m a jerk for having standards. Don’t care; it’s my blog.
There once was a girl from New Guinea
Who exacerbated her problems, many
When she ran away
For an education vacay
And wound up caretaking a city slicking Benny
Not Rated, 101 Minutes
Director: Theo Rumansara
Writer: Theo Rumansara
Genre: Buddy pic?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Papuans
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Casting directors
